Mesut Ozil: Why is China so annoyed with the Arsenal player?
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China was so angry with Arsenal player Mesut Ozil, over comments he made about its treatment of Muslims, that they pulled his team's Premier League match from the TV schedules.
The game against Manchester City should have been broadcast on Sunday 15 December.
It was dropped, after the Arsenal player posted on social media on Friday 13 December criticising China for its treatment of Uighur Muslims.
The Uighurs are a mostly Muslim minority group, about 11 million of whom live in western China's Xinjiang region.
But now China has responded strongly, with the country's foreign ministry spokesman telling Ozil that he has been "deceived by fake news".
Persecution is the cruel and unfair treatment of a person or group, especially because of their religious or political beliefs, or their race.
In the post the German player, who is Muslim, called Uighurs "warriors who resist persecution".
He criticised both China and other Muslims for "staying quiet" and not speaking out.
China claims that he has been "influenced by untruthful remarks" and invited Ozil to visit the Xinjiang region and "have a look" for himself.
What do we know about the way Uighur Muslims are treated in China?
Human rights groups say about a million people - mostly from the Muslim Uighur community - are thought to have been held without trial in high-security prison camps.
In these camps, it is claimed that Uighur Muslims are made to speak a different language (Mandarin Chinese), swear loyalty to the Chinese President, Xi Jinping, and say they will turn away from their faith.
China has repeatedly denied mistreating Uighur Muslims in the country though.
It says they are being educated in "vocational training centres" to combat violent religious extremism.
But former prisoners have told the 91热爆 of horrible experiences they allegedly suffered in these centres.
There have protests outside the Chinese Consulate in Turkey by those who believe the Uighur community are having their human rights abused
China is one of the biggest countries in the world, and with a population of over 1.4 billion people, it is now the most populated country on earth.
It is ruled by the communist party, a huge organisation with more than 80 million members.
Xinjiang has a degree of self-governance away from Beijing. Uighur Muslims make up under half the region's roughly 26 million people.
Why has China reacted in this way to Ozil's post?
The Chinese government is so annoyed about Ozil's comments that China's state broadcaster, CCTV, removed Arsenal's Premier League match against Manchester City from its schedule.
This isn't the first time China has reacted like this. It is well known for its policy of censorship; having strict rules about what children learn at school, what people watch on TV, and even what they can do online.
It means it often bans or deletes anything in books, films, TV series or on the internet, that the Chinese government doesn't like.
Censorship is when speech, public communication like the news, or other information is stopped because it is considered harmful or inconvenient to organisations like governments, corporations or private institutions who want to control what is being said.
Back in 2013 China deleted scenes from the James Bond film Skyfall, because it said parts of the film showed the country in a negative light.
The Chinese government has even banned games consoles in the past, saying it was to protect young people's mental health.
A fan club dedicated to Ozil has also been removed from Chinese search engine Baidu by its founder.
How has Arsenal FC responded?
Arsenal FC has distanced itself from the midfielder's comments.
In a statement the London club said it is "always apolitical".
It added: "Following social media messages from Mesut Ozil on Friday, Arsenal Football Club must make it clear that these are Mesut's personal views."
- Published30 September 2019
- Published25 October 2019
